Customer Reviews

Margin

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of Hammill's many interestingly creative periods, The Margin represents his K period 82-85 with Nic Potter, Guy Ellis and VDGG original Guy Evans, one of my very favorite periods that produced studio efforts "Enter K" and "Patience". The Margin follows on as a representation of the magic they produced together in a live setting.
Recently reissued as a two disc expanded set (2002) with additional liner notes from Hammill this is a must own set for any collection that contains VDGG or Hammill material.
Upon revsiting in it's new format I'm taken back at how amazing this set really is with an over the wall version of "Future Now", the impactfull and reflective "Porton Down" while the 20+ minutes of "Flight" from "A Black Box" is stunning.
A must own piece of music that never dates by a truly inventive and creative soul that refuses to give into the fame machine.
Awesome stuff experienced by the few who know.......................

The players: the great HAMMILL on vox and piano. Extraordinaire ex Van der graaf drummer guy evans, Nic potter, also former VDGG on bass, and a very good ex- Stranglers axe man. Their chemistry is perfect and the material is way deep. The sound is that of a very acceptable remastered, clean, Bootleg.

Which version of The Margin would you like, sir? The original 1985 double vinyl version on Foundry (FONDL 1); or the Virgin single CD reissue (CDOVD 345) which omitted 'The Second Hand'; or the German Date single CD reissue (DACD 9005790) which omitted both 'The Second Hand' and 'The Sphinx in the Face'; or the illicit bootleg version, 'The Secret Asteroid Jungle'; or the other illicit bootleg version, 'A Stranger Still'? These last two feature hardly sparkling audience recordings and are unavailable and not to be purchased even if they were as they are illegal. Which is a shame as, on the latter, you get a virtually complete K Group set, with tracks such as 'The Siren Song', 'Just Good Friends', 'Losing Faith in Words', amongst other classics, unavailable elsewhere, not even on this, The Margin + , on Hammill's Fie!, the remastered, crystalline version which strikes a balance between the original official recordings on CD1; and audaciously steals back ( and quite right too) from the bootleggers, virtually all the illegal 'The Secret Asteroid Jungle' recording to make up CD2. By the way, for the completist, it restores, albeit in a different version to the original LP version, 'The Second Hand'. It's a secret asteroid jungle out there, Margin fans. Hammill also adds some illuminating and atmospheric liner 'your correspondent on the spot' notes that take us back to the German beat-club space-time continuum in which the K Group performed...

I have the original gatefold Foundry 1 vinyl, if anyone's interested. It's in g condition on the side of the lp with flight on it (there are about 3 brief pops in one section). The other 3 sides are nm-m, as they have only been played a few times (like 2). The gatefold is in nm-m as it has always been bagged since I bought it in the 1980's.

The review: it's all good and far better than his first disc. Nothing beats "Flight".